​Greece won’t cooperate with ‘troika,’ rejects aid extension

Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis looks on before a common press conference with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the euro zone finance ministers' group (not pictured) at the ministry in Athens, January 30, 2015 (Reuters / Kostas Tsironis) / Reuters

The new left-wing Greek government has said that it will not cooperate with the ‘troika’ of international lenders, and does not plan to seek an extension for its aid package which is set to expire at the end of February.

Without the aid, Greek
banks could face being shut off from European Central Bank
funding.

Rejecting cooperation with the troika from the EU and IMF, Greek
Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis said he would rather negotiate
the debt in direct talks with eurozone leaders.

“This position enabled us to win the trust of the Greek
people,” Varoufakis said Friday during a joint press
conference with Jeroen Dijsselbloem, head of the eurozone finance
ministers’ group.

“Our first action as a government will not be to reject the
rationale of questioning this program through a request to extend
it,” Varoufakis said. “We respect institutions but we
don’t plan to cooperate with that committee.”

The meeting between
Varoufakis and Dijsselbloem is to lay the groundwork for visits
by newly-elected Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the finance
minister to London, Paris, and Rome next week. The new Greek
leadership has voiced its intention to attempt to loosen the
terms of the massive €240 billion (US$271 billion)
bailout.

The new government has
fueled panic among creditors and investors by promising to freeze
privatizations and re-hire state workers, in addition to rolling
back other reforms that were mandated by the bailout.

Varoufakis said he had told Dijsselbloem that although Athens
plans to make the economy more competitive and balance its
budgets, the country refuses to accept deflation and non-viable
debt.

Dijsselbloem, meanwhile, warned Greece against taking unilateral
measures and cautioned the new finance minister against rolling
back progress.

Germany, Greece’s biggest lender, has said it will not consider
writing off the country’s debt. Berlin expects Greece to
implement structural reform in exchange for support.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble said Berlin is not
willing to radically renegotiate current agreements.

“We’re prepared for any discussions at any time but the basis
can’t be changed,” he said. “Beyond that, it is hard to
blackmail us.”